2 of 2 thought this review was well writtenYear of No Light are a post-metal band from Bordeaux, France. Their first album,
Nord, is standard post-metal done extremely well, for lack of a better description. The album twists and turns through melodic chords, aggressive harsh vocals, intricate leads, a solid rhythm section, and superb songwriting, and is a release to interest fans of Isis, Russian Circles, and Rosetta.
First track "Sélénite" is a calm introduction to the band's sound, with distorted chords being played for the duration of the song while some guitar leads in the background provide some texture. However, be warned, as second track "L'Angoisse Du Veilleur De Nuit D'Autoroute Les Soirs D'Alarme Ã* Accident" launches straight into a fury of dissonant, angry riffing and screaming after a drum intro reminiscent of
Isis's Aaron Harris. Things slow down a bit after this with 9-minute track "Traversée", one of four 7-minute-plus epics on the record. "Traversée" follows in the same steps as opener "Sélénite" with more melodic chords and beautiful lead sections. The song features tortured vocals that provide a harsh atmosphere to clash with the calm textures given by the guitars.
The rest of the songs on the album follow suit, working well with their similarities as well as their differences. Of the two shortest songs, "Librium" is a completely ambient piece, and "Prosodia" is simply a clean guitar playing chords. Album highlight "Tu As Fait De Moi Un Homme Meilleur" features some fantastic drumming to back up beautifully dissonant riffs, and a build-up/climax that could bring tears to one's eyes.
The flaws with this record are few and far between; however the one that cannot be ignored is the vocals. They're completely one dimensional, with no variety, and could have used improvement (the vocalist has since passed on). However, as stated earlier, they provide a harsh atmosphere juxtaposed with the melodic sounds of the album, so the feeling is subjective. Another small flaw is the production drowns out the bass (usual in much of modern metal, however somewhat uncommon in post-metal) and the guitars often buzz too much to tell what exactly is being played. Despite these flaws,
Nord is still a fantastic post-metal album, and a great metal album in general.
